


almond milk

by getcool (avatarstates)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffee, Comfort, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 21:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15894288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avatarstates/pseuds/getcool
Summary: "You can make milk from almonds?""It's not that shocking of an idea, is it?"where Tsukishima Kei is new in town and befriends a guy from the coffee shop near his apartment.





	almond milk

Nose scrunched up, Tsukishima Kei stared at the overhead menu, looking at the beverage options and their respective prices, while waiting in line for his turn. There were four people ahead of him, giving Kei plenty of time to consider his options. It was the tall blond's first time coming here since he moved into town a few days ago.

He had finished unpacking everything earlier that day before deciding to explore around. Besides going to and fro from the supermarket nearby, Kei didn't really know his way around here. He had been wandering down the block before he came across the establishment. At first, nothing caught his eye. It looked like almost any regular coffee shop he had ever come across in his life.

 

As he passed under the shade of the awnings of the shop, his attention had been briefly caught by the sandwich board propped up by the door. Written in colored chalk was the list of the day's specials but what made Kei' steps slow down was the _lactose-free coffee options available!_ near the bottom of the board. That was pretty much what made him decide to enter. The interior of the cafe had a welcoming atmosphere. The sounds of the coffee machines percolating, patrons' conversations and acoustic music playing overhead were at a comfortable noise level for Kei. Delectable baked goods sat in the display next to the counter.

"Good morning and welcome to The Bean Express," chirped the guy at the register when it was Kei's turn to order. "May I take your order?"

"Yeah," Kei said then squinted at the overhead menu once more, pushing up his glasses. "I'll take a regular-sized latte macchiato. Lactose-free milk, please." Producing his wallet from his pocket, he took out the correct amount of money for his order.

"Coming right up in a jiffy," the employee responded. "Name, please?"

"Tsukki."

"Like the moon?"

"Huh?" Kei narrowed his eyes. He must've looked annoyed—he tended to frown when he was confused, which gave people the impression he was irked—because the employee began to apologize.

"Sorry, I was just making sure —"

"Yeah. Like the moon," Kei cut him off in midsentence and handed the employee the money. Nodding curtly after the employee thanked him, Kei took a seat not too far from the counter. While waiting for his coffee, Kei's eyes wandered around the cafe, taking in minute details like that row of succulents decorating a shelf by the wall, the type of music playing at that moment to the employee who had taken his order earlier. Kei hadn't seen what the employee's name was earlier so he decided to call him Freckles because of the fact that the guy's face was dotted with them.

Freckles had left the counter and was clearing the table near Kei. He was humming along to the song that was currently playing with a small smile on his face. From where Kei sat, he assumed Freckles about his age, maybe younger, and was about a couple of inches shorter than Kei was. He had short dark hair, though Kei couldn't tell if it was brown or green because of the lighting, with a flyaway piece of hair sticking out from the top of his head. Something about that made Kei's nose wrinkle as the urge to pat it down.

"I hope you don't mind me asking but are you new here?" It took Kei a few moments to realize Freckles was talking to him.

"I just moved here," Kei answered.

"Oh, I see. It's just I always see regulars here but it's nice to see a new face around," explained Freckles. Kei simply arched his eyebrow, hoping Freckles wouldn't ask anymore questions because he wasn't really in the mood to make small talk with anyone at the moment. Fortunately, Freckles didn't ask anymore but said, "Your coffee should be ready in a bit, Tsukki."

Kei made a noise of acknowledgement and Freckles smiled at him, though awkwardly. As soon as Freckles disappeared to the back with the used cups and plates he collected, Kei's coffee was ready and waiting for him to pick it up. After dropping a couple of coins in the tips jar, Kei collected his coffee and returned to his apartment.

* * *

It seemed that every time Kei visited The Bean Express, Freckles was always there to take his order. The two of them struck up what, in the vaguest sense, could be called a friendship. It started with Freckles remembering Kei's usual order to greeting him by the name Tsukki before it progressed to making small talk—actually, it was Freckles who took the first steps of their friendship while Kei simply went along with it. Soon enough, Kei began to visit the place regularly and sometimes Freckles would spend his break talking to him.

Kei learned that Freckles' actual name was Yamaguchi Tadashi but Freckles insisted Kei to call him Tadashi. Apparently out of the two of them, Tadashi was older by a year, which came as a surprise ("Ehh?? But I thought you were older because you seemed so cool!" Kei almost choked on his coffee.), Tadashi had no idea almond milk was a thing.

"Really? You can make milk from almonds?" Tadashi was staring at Kei as though the blond had claimed the moon was, in fact, made out of cheese.

Kei exhaled and shook his head. "Yes, you can." He narrowed his eyes slightly at Tadashi's expression. "It's not that shocking of an idea, is it? If you can make milk out of soybeans, you definitely can make milk out of almonds."

Tadashi frowned as he pondered over that. "Makes sense. Except, how do you make milk out of almonds?" he inquired.

"Ask Mr Google," Kei answered dryly, intending to sound sarcastic when the right corner of his mouth twitched upwards at Tadashi pulling out his phone.

"Okay Google," Tadashi said to his phone, "what's almond milk?" Ignoring Kei's scoff, Tadashi's eyes widened at the results displayed on the screen and began to click on links at random. "Whoa, this is so cool!"

"I suppose," Kei hummed.

"Damn, there are videos on how to make them too?"

"Yes."

"That's so cool. I didn't know this almond milk thing was possible." After some more scrolling and skimming through texts regarding almond milk benefits, Tadashi put his phone away. "Anyway, why'd you ask about almond milk?"

Kei shrugged nonchalantly as he picked up his cup and took a sip. His cofffee was the same as usual: a latte macchiato made with lactose-free milk. The caffeinated liquid was the right amount of sweet for Kei, with a rich and creamy feel accompanying the bold taste of espresso. "I was just wondering," he said after setting his cup down. "It'd be great if you could introduce it in your menu to go with your coffee or something."

"Yeah, I guess so!" Tadashi acknowledged. "I'll suggest that to the manager. Hope she'll take into consideration too. Anyway, my shift's almost over. Bye bye!" With a wave, he rose from where he sat across Kei. Idly, Kei's eyes followed after him, feeling a small twinge of disappointment, until Tadashi returned to the counter. He glanced at his nearly empty cup, drained the last dregs of coffee and got up.

The bell by the door tinkled with Kei's exit.

The next few times Kei went to grab at coffee at The Bean Express, he always asked if they had almond milk because, frankly, he was getting tired of tasting lacto-free milk in his coffee. Every time he asked, Tadashi could only smile and shake his head. "Sorry, Tsukki," he'd say as he scribbled Kei's nickname on a cardboard cup in neat hiragana strokes, "maybe the next time?" A part of Kei was somewhat annoyed by those empty promises but the guilty expression on Tadashi's face made Kei soften. Just by a little bit. But then it must've been annoying for Tadashi's end too, having Kei to ask the same questions every time he ordered.

"Just the usual," said Kei one day after a particularly stressful morning.

Tadashi looked unusually cheery that day, or maybe it was just Kei. "Anything else?" he asked and Kei arched his eyebrows. "Oh, y'know, do you want anything special in your coffee too?"

"The strength to carry on the rest of my day without killing someone," Kei deadpanned.

Tadashi laughed, eyes crinkling at the corners. Okay, maybe he was cheerier than usual today. "Alrighty," he said in a singsong voice and winked at Kei, who sighed and paid for his coffee.

Sitting at his usual waiting spot near the counter, Kei stared out the window idly. When he was on his way to the cafe, he noticed the leaves were becoming a vibrant mix of orange, yellow and red. This meant that about four months have passed since he moved to this town, which was the same amount of time he'd known Tadashi. At the thought of Tadashi, his eyes traveled to the displays where Tadashi was rearranging the cakes. Time sure moved fast, Kei thought.

A clear ding tuned Kei's focus back to the present. Tadashi perked up from the displays and went to collect the coffee from the short, intense-looking barista. Kei assumed that was his coffee and he was right when Tadashi hurried over with the cup. "Here you go!" Tadashi served Kei the coffee with a flourish.

"Thank you." Kei brought the steaming cup to his lips before pausing. Tadashi was still standing there, grinning at him. While Kei usually wouldn't have minded that, today was an exception. "Don't you have work to do?" he asked, not too kindly.

Tadashi giggled, seemingly ignorant of the tone Kei had used, which caused a frown to crease the blond's brow. Tadashi gestured around the shop. "No one except you, me and my colleagues are here."

Kei frowned even more, missing the reason as to why Tadashi was pointing this out at all. What little of his patience was fizzling away. "Yeah, but it's still your shift," he reminded Tadashi and hoped this would make him go away.

"But not until you try the coffee!"

Kei didn't mean to. He'd never have done what he did under normal circumstances. But today had been a stressful day and even though his tolerance for Tadashi was usually high, today was an exception. Suddenly, the cafe sounded quieter after Kei's chair squeaked in protest when he got up. Tadashi blanched, spluttering an apology but Kei wasn't having any of it. Shouldering past Tadashi, he left the cafe with the bell by the door tinkling noisily.

The next few days after his outburst, Kei had become too embarrassed to show his face at The Bean Express. Kei knew it was a dick move and he should apologize but every time he walked down the street across the cafe, he'd keep his gaze trained on the ground speed past it in hopes he wouldn't be spotted by anyone to work there. Maybe he'd be fine with Nishinoya, the intense barista, or with Sugawara the manager, but not Tadashi. Especially Tadashi.

By the time it reached a whole week of avoiding The Bean Express, Kei made up his mind though it'd been a long process with many afterthoughts and deprecating pep talks. Truthfully, he missed going there for its coffee, its general atmosphere but mostly because he missed having someone like Tadashi to talk to. No, just Tadashi in particular. The other coffee shop he visited during the meantime wasn't as nice as where Tadashi worked, in Kei's opinion. It took him too long to work up the nerve to walk into The Bean Express. However, the process of mentally preparing himself became worth it when the bell tinkled with his arrival and a certain freckled person lit up at the sight of him. And then Kei suddenly felt like bolting out the door because he didn't deserve to be smiled at like that by Tadashi.

"Tsukki!" Tadashi practically called out over the sounds of the cafe, causing a few of the patrons in there to fall silent. He clapped a hand over his mouth, flushing red but his eyes were shining happily as Kei approached the counter. "You're back!" he exclaimed, this time at a lower volume than the one he used earlier.

"I'm back." Kei sighed. "Listen, I wanted to … apologize for the other day —"

Tadashi chuckled and shook his head. "No, no. It's fine! You must've had a bad day and I was being too pushy —"

"No, it was my fault."

"Partly mine too."

"Please let me make it up to you." To everyone's surprise, Kei bowed in apology. He could hear Tadashi releasing a stream of flustered "It's okay, Tsukki! Oh God," and the murmurs from other patrons.

"I really enjoy your company," said Kei, head still bowed, "and I'm so sorry that I let my temper get in the way."

"Tsukki, please look at me," said Tadashi shakily, which prompted Kei to straighten up. The distinct sign of a blush was spread across his freckled cheeks as he regarded Kei shyly. "It's alright but if you insist, you should have a coffee. With me, I mean, because it's on me," Tadashi added hastily before Kei could order. "I know it's really silly since I work here and all —"

"Tsukki. Tadashi. I hate to ruin this moment but, Tsukki, order the goddamn Latte Macchiato and get over it," called the Nishinoya by the espresso machine. "And Tadashi, park your ass in a chair before I —"

"Okay okay, Noya!" Tadashi responded, shocked.

"Coffee's on the house, everybody, since Tadashi's so bad at _this_ ," added Nishinoya when he caught Kei taking out a few notes from his wallet. Tadashi mumbled an apology to Kei, who was staring at him questioningly.

Kei took the table by the window and was joined by Tadashi, who sat across him. The two of them regarded each other in silence for a few moments before Tadashi's face turned red. "Oh my god, Tsukki," he groaned and put his hands in his face.

"That was embarrassing."

"You're right," Kei agreed. "Me, bowing to anyone in public? I'd rather —"

"Nishinoya almost —"

The two of them broke off once they realized they were talking about different things. Tadashi coughed while Kei glanced away. An awkward silence settled between the pair, which was broken once Nishinoya arrived at their table. After serving them their coffee ("One Latte Macchiato for Tsukki, and One Café Americano for Freckles!") he grinned knowingly at the two of them before returning to his duties.

Kei regarded his coffee, which appeared the same as it always did. Three distinct layers of foam, rich brown espresso and creamy white milk. He stirred the liquid with a teaspoon, watching as the layers melt into each other. It was something that calmed him a lot. A soft noise tugged his attention away from his coffee to the person across him. Tadashi's gaze flitted away but not before Kei caught him. A small twitch brought Kei's eyebrows together. "What is it?" Kei asked.

"Nothing," Tadashi answered right away and raised his cup. He took a long sip, staring boldly back at Kei. There was something about the gleam of his eyes that made Kei even more confused.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?"

Tadashi had placed his cup down and was failing to hide the smile threatening to break across his features. "Because I'm pretty sure you'll love the coffee today."

"Why?"

Tadashi continued to smile. With a resigned sigh, Kei brought his cup to his lips. At first, he didn't register anything different about the coffee until he let the hot liquid sit in his mouth before swallowing. His eyebrows furrowed together when he tried another sip. His latte macchiato had a distinct flavor that Kei would never mistake for anything else. He set his cup down and stared at Tadashi's face for the longest time before he said, slowly, "What milk did Nishinoya use?"

Tadashi's shoulders began to shake before he covered his mouth. His eyes were shining with the laughter he was trying so hard to suppress. "Take a guess!" When Kei didn't oblige, Tadashi bit his lip in efforts to stop smiling so wide. "It's almond milk," he said in a tiny voice.

Kei couldn't believe it at first since Tadashi was laughing but he tried the coffee again and there was that distinct nutty flavor that was his favorite. "You … didn't—" he began then broke off. His mouth hung open.

"Yeah." Tadashi's freckles stood out from his flushed cheeks. "You always asked for it so I thought I'd get it for you the other day."

"The other day —" Then realization hit Kei. Tadashi was referring to the day when he snapped at him. Kei's face grew hot with embarrassment as he averted his gaze away from Tadashi. No wonder he'd been so excited about Kei's coffee and wanted him to drink so badly. Something stirred in Kei's chest, light and fluttery. "Thank you," he mumbled.

"Huh?"

"The coffee is fantastic," Kei said louder but seeing the slight twitch at the corners of Tadashi's mouth gave him the impression that Tadashi did hear him earlier. Pushing up his glasses, he made a show of taking a long sip of his drink while Tadashi did the same. A warm feeling bloomed inside him that he knew wasn't from the coffee. Appreciation, yet the word seemed woefully inadequate to describe what he felt. His gaze traveled to Tadashi, whose attention had been diverted to the pigeon pecking the sidewalk outside. It was this moment in time when Kei took the opportunity to appreciate all the details about Tadashi he'd taken for granted.

Like the way he held his coffee cup with both hands as though it were a delicate thing he treasured. How his eyes would light up before an endearing grin appeared on his lips. The splash of tinier freckles on his skin that Kei only noticed at this distance. The slight upturned end of his nose that was so endearing. The welcoming and friendly aura he exuded that had made Kei warm up to him faster than he would with anyone else. His little giggle that caused Kei's heart to flutter.

By God, Kei thought to himself as he wrenched his gaze away. A small idle smile played on his lips as the bell of the coffee shop tinkled pleasantly in the background.

"Tadashi," Kei whispered under his breath, three syllables molded with more softness than he'd ever used in his entire life to call someone. The owner of the name turned his head towards Kei, eyebrows arched with curiosity. "If it's not too much of a hassle, I'd like to hang out with you this weekend."

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated so feel free to leave some! i'll do my best to reply to everyone :)  
> thank you so much for reading and i hope you'll have a lovely day!  
>    
> [[ twitter ]](https://twitter.com/azunshi)  
> [[ tumblr ]](https://avatarclub.tumblr.com)


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